All for You
by Bluefeathermuse
Summary: "Nothing about us was perfect or clear, but when Paradise calls me, I'd rather be here." What will it take for Jiraiya to finally catch a break with his Princess? (Canon-centric blurbs with a few side stories.)


**A/N: Another retelling of Jiraiya and Tsunade's story. Written because I clearly hate myself and can't get enough of this beautifully tragic ship. Let me know what you think! We can cry together.**

i.

The first time he tells her that he loves her is when they are six. It isn't so much as a confession, as a surprised retort more accurately foots the bill, but it is said nevertheless.

"I'll punch that stupid grin right off of your face!" Tsunade yells.

She is very much straddled across his chest, her hand clamped so tightly into a fist that her knuckles are turning white. He is trying to kick himself into a standing position, but there's just way too much of her and his arms are flattened against the ground. So he resorts to the only way he knows how to get the fiery princess off of him.

"If you keep doing this people are going to think we love each other," he says, puckering his lips and batting his eyelashes.

Tsunade makes a disgusted sound and jumps off of him, similarly to the way a cat scales the side of a building after getting startled. She pouts then, tucking an unruly strand of honey blonde hair behind her ear.

"Why are you always so weird?" she asks.

Jiraiya stands, laughing as he brushes off the front of his shirt. "Calm down. Besides, girls have _cooties_ and I could never love someone with that."

ii.

The second time he says that he loves her, she doesn't even hear him. This time he is nine years old and his growing interest in the opposite sex is falling away from cooties and turning into a confusing mess of 'I hate you but I also want you on my team when we play shuriken toss in the park.'

He is sitting with Orochimaru at a food vending stall, watching the Summer Finale Parade. The village is bustling with countless people, shouting nonsense as the floats parade by. The roar of the crowd gets significantly louder and Jiraiya is so caught up in the commotion that he does not realize _she_ is the one up on the float everyone is cheering at.

Well, her and the first and second Hokage. Minor details, as far as Jiraiya is concerned. And suddenly her honey blonde hair doesn't look so frizzy and her sparkling brown eyes look like caramel instead of boring old brown from up there.

"She's a real babe, isn't she?" Jiraiya says, nudging Orochimaru in the side with his elbow.

"Who?" he asks, blinking as he shades his face from the sun to stare up at the float.

Tsunade sees them and her eyes lock onto Orochimaru. She waves at him fervently, her pretty green kimono fluttering like springtime leaves in the breeze. Jiraiya waves back when Orochimaru doesn't respond. Tsunade sticks her tongue out at him in response, earning a swift lecture from Tobirama and a hearty laugh from Hashirama.

Jiraiya slumps back in his seat to try and hide his growing embarrassment. Of _course_ she would like the stoic kid. All girls her age do. And he decides right then and there that he'll try his best to earn her heart…in order to be a hero everywhere and not because he actually likes her— _duh._

iii.

Like a tree that you plant in the forest and forget about for awhile, the seasons pass by in the blink of an eye and Team Hiruzen has sprouted. Jiraiya is a foot or two taller—two, if you ask him in front of Orochimaru—and thirteen years old. And Tsunade is taller than even he is, something she prides herself on and teases him for frequently. She's thirteen now, too, but has the grace and presence of a woman years her senior. Except for her fists. _Those_ are still just as brash as ever.

"If I can put my entire fist through this tree, you'll stop bothering me for at least a week," Tsunade says, pointing to a nearby oak and shooting Jiraiya a smug look.

He frowns. "That's a bet even _you_ could win."

"Would you prefer to be the target?" Tsunade scowls.

Orochimaru looks on, heading to that place a million miles away whenever his teammates start getting into it — which happens a lot more frequently now that they're older and more headstrong.

"Only if you use your lips." Jiraiya waggles his eyebrows.

Tsunade lets out a frustrated groan and stalks over to where Jiraiya is standing. Then, in one fell swoop, her fist is filled with the fabric of his shirt and he is dangling in midair.

"Fine. If I can put my entire fist through that boulder, you'll stop bothering me for a _month_ ," she says.

"Whatever you say, princess," Jiraiya says, holding up his hands in defeat until she releases her iron grip on his shirt. "But if you can't do it, you have to kiss me."

The air suddenly goes so silent that Tsunade is sure she can hear the ants crawling along the ground beneath them. She visually weighs her options, sticking her tongue on the inside of her cheek and scrunching up her nose in a way that makes the light summertime freckles peppering her face bunch together. The challenge is so good she can feel it bubbling away in her bones. She has lost nearly every bet she's ever made, why should this one be any different? But instead of cards or Lady Luck, she's got her own strength on her side.

"Deal," she says, holding out her hand for Jiraiya to shake and seal the deal.

She rolls up imaginary sleeves, tightens her honey-blonde mess of hair in a ponytail, and cracks her knuckles on both fists. Then, she takes a deep breath, channels chakra into her fist, and charges straight for the boulder.

She is not sure what hurts worse: the mutilated skin on her bloody knuckles or her pride. She falls backwards with a loud _thud,_ eyes shut as she bites back the pain now searing through her arm. The boulder definitely has a dent even a Jonin would have a hard time making, but when she looks through the point of impact, she can't see the other side.

When Tsunade turns around, she expects Jiraiya to be standing there with his arms outstretched and an entire bottle of mints in his mouth. Instead, he is staring at her with a pained expression, which evidently pisses her off even more. Oh, how much easier it would be if he didn't give a rat's ass about her hand and just took his prize.

"Are you alright?" he asks.

"You're such an idiot," Tsunade mumbles, nursing her injured hand in the crook of her other arm.

Jiraiya is about to protest before he feels Tsunade's lips on his. It's chaste, but soft and tastes like the almond butter lip balm she uses. He staggers backwards, fingertips instantly flying to the spot where she kissed.

"Can't say I'm a sore loser," she says, already a couple hundred feet away and heading towards the hospital.

On the way there, she hopes he doesn't follow. Because if he does, maybe he'll realize that she just gave him her first kiss.

iv.

They don't have much of a childhood by the time they realize that they're adults. It's a luxury shinobi willingly give up before the cost of losing it comes into play. So Jiraiya and Tsunade stare back at one another, wondering how on earth thirty years of sadness and hurt and death can be crammed into the eyes of a sixteen year old.

But her eyes are still beautiful. Still full like two pools of perfectly undisturbed caramel. And he'd tell her this now, if only tragedy hadn't struck the village and taken her little brother with it.

So instead he simply holds her and he lets her cry, which she doesn't do for a long time because people like her — like them — do not know how to cry for a long time, and when she's all done and Jiraiya's coffee table is littered with used tissues he smiles at her.

"We'll find a way to make this right. Make everything right again," he says.

She sniffs and pulls away from his hug. "How can you say that with such confidence?"

His eyes are glinting in that way that Tsunade has come to know so well. He's made enough passes at her to be able to see them coming a million miles away.

"Because when you've got something you need to protect, someone you love, you're the strongest force in the universe," he says.

Tsunade shakes her head and Jiraiya sees a crack in her heart that he hasn't noticed before. So he sighs and takes her into his arms again because it is all he can do at this point, hoping that he can stall long enough for the crack to avoid becoming a completely ruptured surface.

"Tsunade," he murmurs, lips up against her ear and heart thoroughly bare on his sleeve. "That person that I want to protect, that person I love…it's _you._ "

v.

 _If you love somebody, let them go. For if they return, they were always yours. If they don't, they never were._

Tsunade is standing in front of the mirror. Hands poise on her chest, tracing the length of her collarbone and then down the sleek blue dress clinging to her skin. There is a noticeably empty space in between her breasts. A noticeably empty spot that is currently occupying space underneath her lover's clothes.

The air is particularly cold for Fall this year and the beautiful leaves that bathe Konoha in a symphony of yellows, reds, and oranges is scarce. Instead, it is replaced with dried out browns and twigs that shatter like glass underneath one's feet.

She glances out the window, feeling oddly warm despite the breeze blowing in through the shutters, and for the first time in awhile she thinks about him. Jiraiya. Somewhere in godforsaken Ame teaching godforsaken orphans, like they stood more of a chance out there than her little brother did.

A knock on her door jolts her out of the memory and brings her back to the reality standing in front of her. Tsunade is a beautiful woman, a successful medic bringing lifesaving change to the world as she knows it, and irrevocably in love with a shinobi named Dan.

A shinobi that just so happens to be waiting at the door for their anniversary dinner.

Tsunade opens the door, breathing in the crisp fall air and…something else. The familiar smell of forest and sunshine and a hint of musk invades her nostrils so suddenly that she nearly doubles over. She hardly has time to look up at her uninvited guest before she is enveloped in a hug that feels like first kisses and fighting and _home._

"Jiraiya!" she gasps.

"Expecting someone else?" he asks, his voice so deep yet so _Jiraiya._

"Well, yes, but…" she trails off and glances behind him before quickly ushering him inside.

He is even taller than before and practically towers over her. His hair is long and unkempt, typical, but coarser, and his eyes shine with years of travel experience that Tsunade cannot even begin to comprehend.

"They're going to make it," Jiraiya says. "I know they will."

Tsunade smiles wryly. "As long as ninja training is the _only_ thing they picked up from you."

Jiraiya laughs, loud and booming, and it fills the house in a way that makes Tsunade feel as though something really has been missing the whole time.

"So tell me about you," Jiraiya says. "Or maybe we could talk about it over dinn—"

A second knock on the door interrupts him, and they both crane their necks to stare at Tsunade's entryway. She stands and quickly makes her way over to the door. Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear — an extremely feminine move that makes Jiraiya recoil in surprise — she turns the handle and Dan appears.

He is holding a bouquet of flowers, daisies, her favorite, and is smiling so wide that Jiraiya wonders if his lips are going to fall off. Jiraiya begins to pick at the cracks in between the wood at the dining table as Dan steps forward and kisses Tsunade's cheek. She giggles, actually _giggles,_ and Jiraiya is contemplating whether or not he accidentally stepped into an alternate reality.

"You're back," Dan says, directed at Jiraiya.

Jiraiya stands and walks over to the door. "Good seeing you again, Dan."

Both men shake hands, Dan overly friendly and Jiraiya overly skeptical, while Tsunade watches uncomfortably from the sideline. Jiraiya is a gentleman, despite perverted tendencies, so Tsunade knows that he will never say anything brash about Dan. But the pained look in his eye is hard to ignore, and Tsunade swallows the strange feeling of guilt in her gut.

"She's a real dime," Jiraiya says. "Treat her well or _she'll_ be the one knocking you into next year."

Dan laughs, resting one hand on the small of Tsunade's back. "Trust me, I wouldn't dream of it," he says.

Jiraiya watches them until Tsunade and Dan are two tiny dots in the distance. He locks and closes the door to Tsunade's apartment behind him. He was gone for three years, what else did he expect? Did he think she was just going to wait for him the whole time? Wait for him to finally become someone worthy of her?

It is bullshit, he thinks. So he chuckles to himself because it hurts less than admitting he still loves her.

vi.

News of Dan's death spreads across the village like wildfire. Jiraiya is finishing the last chapter of the sequel to his a romantic comedy series _Icha Icha_ when he gets the news.

An ink jar falls to the floor and shatters as soon as Jiraiya stands, but he pays it no mind. His tunnel vision is focused on one thing: Tsunade.

He trips over the bed as he lunges for his scandals, ignoring the sudden searing pain in his ankle, and practically barrels out the door faster than his legs can carry him.

But Tsunade is not at the hospital. She is instead sitting on a bench near the edge of the village, hands folded in her lap and an expression so stern that the wrinkles on her forehead look like they might be permanently etched there.

Jiraiya lets out a sigh of relief as soon as he finds her, and he approaches her slowly.

"I'm not a fragile little girl, you dolt," she says, staring daggers at him. "You don't have to walk up to me like that."

"I didn't want to startle you," he says.

"That hasn't stopped you before."

Her tone is humorless, dry. That fiery wit that he has fallen so in love with is completely gone. His gaze shifts from her face to her hand, and he sees the cord of Hashirama's necklace tied multiple times around her fingers.

"I gave him the necklace, Jiraiya," she says.

He sits beside her, unsure of what else to say. While Jiraiya respects spirits of all types, he has never been one to believe in mumbo-jumbo like 'bad luck.' Things just happen and sometimes they suck. Judging by the redness in Tsunade's eyes and the way that her chest is heaving with sharp, shallow breaths, this one particular thing sucks a lot more than usual.

"I knew it was bad luck but I did it anyway," she continues, much quieter than normal.

His hand covers hers, dwarfing it in comparison, and he squeezes. "Tsunade, you know as well as I do that sometimes people just—"

Tsunade yanks her hand away from his and stands. "What? They just what, Jiraiya? _Die?_ "

Jiraiya looks at her with a pained expression, his hand falling onto the bench. "Yes," he says evenly.

Tsunade scowls at him. "Dan didn't just 'die.' He was murdered. And I helped kill him because I couldn't save him."

Jiraiya stands, hands outstretched and ready to envelop her in a hug. "You can't beat yourself up over this. You did everything you could."

"How would you know?" she spat. "You were gone for _three years_. You, Orochimaru, Nawaki, Dan… You all left me."

"I know, and I'm sorry, but—"

"But _nothing_ , Jiraiya."

"Tsunade—"

"Just get away from me!"

She hurls one fist in his direction, purposefully missing his body and instead sending chunks of gravel and dirt flying into the air when she makes contact with the ground. He gapes at the massive hole she leaves on the path and then a flurry of things happen all at once.

Their eyes meet, caramel and charcoal, amber and onyx, and Jiraiya rushes to Tsunade's side. His arms are wrapped around her again, enveloping her in everything that is him — his wisdom, his empathy, and most importantly his kindness. He waits for her to cry, to sob, to pepper his back in tiny, angry punches. But she doesn't.

She simply sighs and, with a heart broken and heavy, whispers, "I love you, Jiraiya."

It might not be a confession of the romantic variety, but in this moment, her words mean everything to him.

"I love you too, Tsunade."

vii.

War is a constant. Times of peace are simple distractions from the inevitable destruction looming in the distance. Years have passed, too many for Tsunade to count, and although things are different, they are also very much still the same.

She thinks of Konoha often, wondering how the village is fairing. News of the Nine Tails attack and the death of one of Jiraiya's students leaves her grieving for some time, yet secretly relieved that she did not have to witness it. And she thinks of Jiraiya and his isolation located in a place that can only be identified as Somewhere. She wonders if he is having the time of his life spying on all different sorts of exotic beauties. And she wonders, when he sees a particularly well-endowed woman, if he ever thinks about her.

Jiraiya thinks of her often, too. The women in his novels share at least one of Tsunade's traits: Mayuri has honey blonde hair, Hahari has incredible strength, and June has the biggest breasts in her village. But more importantly, he _dreams_ about her. About nights that never happened and words that were never said. Of her smile and the fire that she absolutely lit inside of him all of those years ago.

And he thinks that he has to see her again, so he plans a trip back to Konoha.

viii.

The view of the inside of the tavern is blocked by two measly pieces of fabric, but Jiraiya knows that a goldmine of information lies behind the curtains in places like this. He ducks inside, Naruto Uzumaki trailing behind him, complaining about something or another.

Even though his entire purpose for being here is _her_ , he is still surprised to see her. Her silhouette knocks the wind right out of him and, if Naruto hadn't been there to chatter some sense back into his brain, he is not sure he would have remembered to breathe again at all.

"Jiraiya?!" Her voice is shrill, but to him it still sounds as melodious as hundreds of sharp knives effortlessly slicing through parchment (in retrospect, he supposes this still poses as an insult, but to him it is intoxicating).

"Tsunade?!" He feigns surprise, because part of him genuinely is. He never expected to actually find her so easily.

"You said she was an old lady," Naruto hisses as he and Jiraiya take a seat at their table.

"She is," Jiraiya whispers back.

A beautiful one, though. Using chakra to keep up appearances is never something that Jiraiya would find practical, but he is definitely not complaining. Everything about her is so much mature and… _rounder_. But she still has though same brown eyes, warm and fiery.

"It's been awhile," Jiraiya says.

Tsunade nods and downs the shot of sake as soon as Jiraiya pours it.

"I'd say you're looking well, but I've taken up honesty recently," she says.

Jiraiya laughs, and the sound takes Tsunade back like it is some sort of noise-induced time machine. She is still angry at him — and even angrier at herself, though — so she keeps the nostalgia trip to a minimum.

"So who's the brat you've got nipping at your ankles?" she asks.

"This," Jiraiya says before Naruto can get too high strung, "is Naruto Uzumaki."

He hopes the way that her eyes widen and her lips quirk into the smallest of smirks are indications that he just might get her to believe in hope yet again.

ix.

"You're still as stubborn as the day we first met," Jiraiya muses, watching Tsunade tip the bottle of sake upside down and frown when no more liquid comes out.

"Did you expect anything else, you old oaf?" Tsunade asks.

Her cheeks are flushed from intoxication and the breeze of slightly chilly summer air, and she looks positively _alive_ in the moonlight. It is though her fight with Naruto sparked some sort of youthful glow about her; although, Jiraiya realizes that it could just be the alcohol talking.

"So you're really not going to take the position then?" he asks.

Tsunade gives him one long look, then sighs. "How can I? If I can't even protect the people I love, how am I supposed to be entrusted with an entire village? I've said it once and I'll say it again, Hokage is a fool's job."

"Naruto is a fool," Jiraiya says.

"Then you're even more of a fool for training him," Tsunade adds.

"Suppose I am. After all, I couldn't even get the one thing I wanted."

"And what was that?"

Jiraiya holds her gaze, her face bathed in moonlight. He feels his insides twitch and remembers all of the times he thought he had just eaten some bad ramen, only to realize he just had a crush on his stupid, hotheaded teammate. So much has changed. He changed. She changed. Their entire world changed in what felt like a blink of an eye.

But sitting with her like this, like they used to when nothing mattered except teasing each other and making dumb bets, he feels like not that much has changed after all.

So maybe that's why he says, "Making a life with you."

And maybe that's why she chuckles and responds with, "It's never too late to start."

x.

The next time Jiraiya tells Tsunade that he loves her is the same time that they share their second kiss. Hokage Tower is practically abandoned at three in the morning, yet Tsunade labors on. After all, the mountain of dreaded paperwork — one of the more endearing terms, trust her — will not just disappear overnight. She has missions to review, reports to read, teams to form, and it is all on top of her countless duties to the non-ninja civilians.

Glancing up at the framed portrait of her grandfather staring back at her, she sighs. "You're one hell of a man to do all of this, gramps."

She swivels her chair around and scoots towards the window, elbows resting on knees and fingers steepled by her lips. She likes Konoha best like this, dark and quiet. Peaceful.

A _clink_ loud enough to make her jump right out of her chair disturbs her and even cracks the window a bit. She squints down at the ground below, fists clenched at her sides and a scowl on her face. Jiraiya is standing there, his lips puckered in a whistle and a handful of tiny rocks in his palm.

Tsunade sighs and shrugs on a shawl before descending an ungodly amount of stairs to meet him at the bottom.

"What the hell, Jiraiya? It's three in the goddamn morning!" she scolds.

"Couldn't sleep," he says simply. "And I saw your light on. Figured I should make sure you didn't have a heart attack or something up there."

"You're just as old as I am, so your jokes don't hold much meaning," Tsunade says.

"The work will be there tomorrow," Jiraiya says, choosing to ignore her jab.

They start to walk at a slow pace, meandering quietly down the dusty paved road. Jiraiya puts his arm around Tsunade and, because she is far too tired, she does not protest. It has been far too long since they have done something like this — when the world is asleep and there is nothing between them except their own words.

Tsunade lets out a chuckle and Jiraiya turns to her, confused.

"What?" he asks.

"Sometimes I wonder how Grandfather did it," she says. "Being Hokage. It feels like I'm never doing enough."

Jiraiya hums in agreement. "It's part of the reason I knew I would never be right for the position. You were the only logical choice, Princess."

Tsunade stops. Jiraiya pretends not to notice so that he can look over his shoulder at her and wink.

"It's been so long since you've called me that," she says.

He shrugs. "You'll always be one, at least to me."

She reaches out to punch him playfully in the arm. "And you'll always be a perverted old man."

They continue to walk in silence for awhile, but it is comfortable. Tsunade wonders if they could have done this every night, if she had chosen differently. But Jiraiya would not be Jiraiya without his years of travel and peeping at women and books, and she supposes she would not be Tsunade without her fair share of hardships, either.

Jiraiya lets out a chuckle then, and it is Tsunade's turn to look at him in confusion.

"What?" she asks.

He blinks in surprise, like he did not realize he laughed out loud. A smile stretches from one ear to the next and he reaches out a hand to ruffle her hair in that way he knows she despises.

"Nothing," he says, the spaces in between his words filled with genuine laughter. "I just can't believe I'm still in love with you after all these years."

Tsunade is stunned into silence, which is rare for her. Jiraiya's smile does not falter like it did when they were younger and she refused to respond to his declarations of love. In fact, if it is possible, he is smiling even brighter than before.

Since she is not sure what to say, or if there are even any words _to_ say, she decides to simply walk over to his side. She reaches up, one thumb gently brushes over his cheek, and she kisses him. It is light and does not last long, but it makes Tsunade feel as though her stint as the Legendary Sucker finally won something.

xi.

The sunset is the most beautiful Tsunade has ever seen it. It is as though the sun exploded and left behind a vibrant, watercolored mess. And sitting there with Jiraiya, she somehow feels a kindred spirit with this particular sunset.

They are messy. They are loud. Their relationship has always been an explosion of color, of emotions, some bad and some good, but always real. She nods to herself, because there is no other setting that could make their farewell more appropriate.

"Promise me you'll come back alive, Jiraiya" she says. "If I lost you too, then I would… I'd—"

Jiraiya stands and smiles. "Are you saying you'd cry for me? I'm glad to hear it. But I doubt it would be like the time Dan died, right?"

Tsunade feels her heart wrench painfully in her chest. "You idiot," she murmurs.

So he still has not been able to separate himself from Dan? Doesn't he realize by now that she loves him in a way that she never loved Dan? He is her closest friend, her only friend left. The only one who has always been there, even when she did not want him, even when he was not physically there. And yet the old oaf still has the gall to compare himself to a man she loved once upon a time.

"Why don't you make a bet with me?" he asks. "You can gamble everything on me dying. After all, you always lose."

Tsunade's eyes widen, and the sudden acidic taste in her throat keeps her from barking out a single, ridiculous laugh.

"Promise me something, though. If I do actually manage to make it back alive…" He trails off and his gaze locks on hers.

She feels her face flush. What did he want from her? A confession of love? A date? The look that passes between them holds years of 'what could have beens' and 'if onlys.' But it does not matter now. His fight with Pein is a death sentence; they both know it.

So when Jiraiya breaks the tension with a laugh and some speech about rejection making a man stronger, all Tsunade can do is try not to cry.

And when he walks away and gives her a thumbs up in the distance, the tears are already halfway down her cheeks.

xii.

"Stop reading that filth around a lady, Kakashi," Tsunade says, snatching the book out of his hands and proceeding to whack him over the head with it.

"With all due respect, Lady Hokage, _Icha Icha_ is not filth. In fact, if you actually gave it a try, I'm sure you'd find something worth reading in there," Kakashi says, giving Tsunade his signature eye-crinkle smile.

Tsunade fumes about her conversation with that blasted, perverted Hatake for the rest of the day. Her? Read a book filled with Jiraiya's bizarre fantasies?

No thanks.

Not her.

No siree bub.

So naturally she orders Shizune to go on an undercover mission to the book store. Just to look, of course. And naturally she gives Shizune just enough money to pay for the Special Author's Edition of _Icha Icha: Paradise._ And when Shizune returns with the book safely stowed away in a plastic bag, Tsunade definitely does not lock the door to the Hokage office for the remainder of the afternoon.

She runs one hand down the book's cover. Obnoxiously orange, just like him, she thinks. And she opens it, allowing herself for the first time in a long time to get fully invested in his world again.

Each word on each page, no matter how lewd, holds part of Jiraiya that Tsunade has never visited before. And in a strange, erotic-comedy sort of way, she finds herself falling in love with him all over again.

By the time she gets to the end of the book, the sun is already beginning to set. The Special Author's Edition comes with a blurb from the writer, and Tsunade stops reading as soon as she gets to the page. His face, smiling like a buffoon with one thumb sticking up proudly, takes up half of the first page. And underneath it, is his writing. His own messy handwriting, immortalized on paper.

She takes a deep breath and reads:

 _Dearest Reader,_

 _Thank you for taking the time to read this tale of adventure, romance, and woe. It is truly one of the greatest honors of my life to share it with you. Every writer has a muse, a person or thing that drives their creativity. Mine just so happens to be a Princess. Pretty lucky for a perv like me, right?_

 _She's strong and courageous and the most beautiful woman you've ever seen — which is saying something, since she was a bit of an ugly duckling back in the day._

Tsunade curses him for all he's worth, hoping that someone in the next world can punch him for her.

 _I guess the whole point of this story is to inspire you guys to never give up on love. Don't let anyone slip through your fingers. Always tell people how you feel because someday they might be dating a long-haired, perfect gentleman and you'll never get another chance._

 _My Princess and I did not get a conventional happy ending. But I hope to all of the stars in the sky that she is still happy, even if it is not with me. Tsunade, my inspiration and my best friend, always remember to stay happy. Stay positive. Never give up on hope and never forget that someone out there (specifically a crazy white-haired idiot with a mole on the right side of his nose. Too specific? You get it.) will always love you._

 _Thanks again for reading. Look out for book number two! More beauty, more brains, more boobs!_

 _Sincerely Yours,_

 _Jiraiya_

In the dim twilight, her lips break out into a smirk. A smirk that turns into a grin that turns into a smile that turns into laughter. And she hopes that wherever Jiraiya is, he's smiling that same shit-eating grin, because his lifelong quest is finally complete. The hero earned the Princess' heart.


End file.
